McDonald’s Now Has 55% More App Users Than Starbucks

The McDonald’s app pulled ahead in 2022 and reached 30 million monthly users in the US as of August 2023, with Chick-fil-A taking second place

Mobile apps for ordering coffee and food for pickup or delivery have become an important part of the market for selling fast food and coffee, with McDonald’s leading its closest rivals in the US by more than 55%, according to Similarweb estimates of monthly active users in the US.

Starbucks was a pioneer in using a mobile app as part of its ordering and loyalty programs, and two years ago, the McDonald’s app was just starting to pull even. In mid-2021, the two were leapfrogging each other from month to month with user counts of over 20 million. But by early 2022, McDonald’s began to pull ahead in the size of its mobile app audience.

In August 2023, McDonald’s had over 30 million monthly active users in the US to 19.4 million for Starbucks. Chick-fil-A, which has also been building its mobile app user base, had 20.6 million, making it the #2 restaurant app in the US.

All these estimates are based on combined monthly active users for iOS and Android in the US.

Key takeaways

• The restaurant and coffee apps with the most users in August were McDonald’s (30.2 million), Chick-fil-A (20.6 million), Starbucks (19.4 million), Chipotle (11.2 million), and Burger King (8.3 million).
• Despite its growth over the past couple of years, the McDonald’s app’s user count dropped 4.3% year-over-year in August. The Starbucks app was down 7.2%.
• The Chick-fil-A app has been showing the strongest growth in recent months, with monthly active users up 46.8% year-over-year to 20.6 million in August. Chipotle’s app has also been growing users, up 40.7% year-over-year to 11.2 million in August.
• McDonald’s also tops our most recent estimates for 30-day app retention, or how many new users are still using the app on day 30 – which also hints at how many are using it every day. That score is 6.6% for McDonald’s, compared with 3.7% for Starbucks. The Dunkin’ and Chick-fil-A apps came in at 4.9% to 4.3%.

The restaurant and coffee app rankings

Here’s what the current pecking order looks like for restaurant and coffee apps.

The lead McDonald’s now enjoys was established over the past couple of years, picking up pace in 2022.

The fastest growing apps: Chick-fil-A and Chipotle

In August, Chick-fil-A and Chipotle posted year-over-year gains of 46.8% and 40.7%, respectively, while McDonald’s and Starbucks were down slightly. The number of users of the Domino’s app dropped 23%.

McDonald’s leads by new app users still active at 30 days

Here is what the 30-day retention rate looks like for selected apps, based on Android active user data.

This is a measure of how many new users who add an app are still using it at 30 days. Although all apps see some dropoff in use, a better app retention score is a sign of how many users have made a habit of opening the app every day.

The Similarweb Insights & Communications team is available to pull additional or updated data on request for the news media (journalists are invited to write to press@similarweb.com). When citing our data, please reference Similarweb as the source and link back to the most relevant blog post or similarweb.com/blog/insights/.

Methodology

Disclaimer: All names, brands, trademarks, and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The data, reports, and other materials provided or made available by Similarweb consist of or include estimated metrics and digital insights generated by Similarweb using its proprietary algorithms, based on information collected by Similarweb from multiple sources using its advanced data methodologies. Similarweb shall not be responsible for the accuracy of such data, reports, and materials and shall have no liability for any decision by any third party based in whole or in part on such data, reports, and materials.

by David F. Carr

David covers social media, digital advertising, and generative AI. With a background in web trends since the 1990s, he’s also the author of "Social Collaboration for Dummies".